The Sweater
by Karis Artemisia Judith
Summary: Modern AU. After falling asleep in the chilly library, Anna wakes up covered with a stranger's sweater...


Anna was shivering. She scrunched up even smaller on the threadbare couch, rubbing her bare shins and her bare arms with her hands, trying to warm up. Why did they have to keep the university library so cold? It was like being in a refrigerator. Did they think the books were going to spoil? Outside it was sunny and hot, _really_ hot, even when she wore just shorts and a tank top. She wished that she'd brought a sweater. Or a blanket. Or that she hadn't decided to cram in a class during the summer session in the first place. She _especially_ wished that she hadn't innocently signed up for a class with Mr. Wesselton. At first he'd seemed cute—he was so _tiny_, and he said the weirdest things—but it turned out that he was fussy and demanding, and his long lectures were pointless because he only tested from the book. The book that they never touched during class. Anna's first test had gone so badly that she _had_ to ace the rest of them, she _had_ to, and that meant reading the entire textbook. Not something that was going to happen in her apartment, even though she had it to herself most of the time—too many distractions, like the TV, and access to her sister's closet, and even cleaning the bathroom (when she realized she was cleaning the bathroom in order to avoid the textbook she knew she was in real trouble).

So she was at the library, tucked into a forgotten alcove on the third floor where someone had stashed an ancient couch, and she was reading the textbook. And making notes. And, apparently, slowly freezing to death. Anna rubbed at her eyes. The book was giving her a headache, and the cold was making her sleepy, so very sleepy….

….Anna woke up with a start, her phone buzzing and chirping in her pocket. She fumbled at it, pushing away her blanket—no, not her blanket. Anna stared, her phone still vibrating in her hand. It was a sweater, a dark blue wool pullover, big enough to cover her whole body when she was curled up. Her phone went off again and Anna jumped. Her sister's picture filled the small screen and Anna tapped it. "Hello?" she said hastily.

"Anna? Where are you?"

"I'm at the library, remember?"

"You're still there? You said you'd be home hours ago."

"I, um…" Anna pulled the phone away from her ear so that she could see the time. _Oh_. "I lost track of time, sorry."

"It's okay, I was just…I was just worried. I've got to go to the lab, do you have your key?"

"Yeah."

"Are you _sure_?"

Anna sighed, dug around in her purse for the keyring, and jangled it in front of the phone. "I'm sure this time, I'm really sure."

"Okay. Be careful walking home."

"Elsa, it's not even close to dark yet, I'll be fine. I'll call you when I'm all locked in, okay?"

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too!"

"Be careful."

"I _will_."

Anna dropped her phone into her bag and went back to staring at the sweater draped over her lap. There was a pattern of reindeer and snowflakes in white around the chest, and this had to be someone's favorite sweater because it was practically worn out, with tons of pilling at the sides where the arms would rub. One elbow had a hole in it. She frowned, trying to remember if anyone she knew had a sweater like this. She didn't think so. For that matter—she held the sweater up at arms length—she wasn't sure that she knew anyone big enough to need a sweater like this. Who did it belong to, Goliath? Anna sniffed, then pressed her nose into the knit fabric and inhaled. Only if Goliath owned a dog. Ew. But under the musky smell of dog there was another scent, sort of woodsy and spicy—sandalwood? It smelled kind of like a sandalwood candle she'd had once.

She gathered up her stuff and looked around, holding the sweater to her chest. The third floor of the library was mostly medical reference books, and it was usually abandoned even during the regular semesters. Anna poked her head down the aisles as she walked, looking for….what? a giant who smelled like sandalwood, probably with a dog? Who was also the type of person to leave his sweater on random girls. Random girls who fell asleep in public. Oh, god, what if she'd been snoring? What if she'd been _drooling_? Anna covered her face with a hand and groaned.

But there was no one on the third floor, or the second, and in the main lobby the only person was the student worker at the desk. Anna had been planning to turn the sweater in to the lost and found, but…the desk was being manned by Chelsea, and Chelsea was…Anna winced. Chelsea was Hans' new girlfriend, and she had not responded well when Anna had tried to talk to her about it. She hadn't responded well at all, and neither had the rest of their friends. Well, not _their_friends, anymore. Anna shivered, her hand clenching in the soft fabric of the sweater. She tucked her head down and hurried out of the library, into the warm sunlight.

Anna brought the sweater back to the library with her the next day, folded up in her bag, but no one approached her to claim it, even after she took it out and wrapped it around her shoulders. The dog smell really wasn't that bad, and the sandalwood scent was nice. And it was so warm…

The sweater went with her to the library every day, and by the third day Anna was starting to wonder if it had materialized out of nowhere. Not that she wasn't grateful—she was grateful, she was _so_ grateful, especially after she realized that if she put the sweater _on_ she could fold up her legs and tuck the hem of the sweater under her feet and be completely encompassed by cuddly wool, like a warm cocoon. The neckline slid down her shoulder, but being warm and cozy made studying so much nicer, even if she had to roll the sleeves up a bunch of times to keep her hands free.

Elsa caught her wearing the sweater at home and raised her eyebrows.

"Where on earth did you get that?"

Anna hugged her arms around herself. "I…found it." Telling her sister that a stranger had given it to her while she was asleep in public somehow didn't sound like a great idea. "It's cozy."

"You look ridiculous."

"Ridiculously _cozy_. You're just jealous because you don't have a cozy sweater."

"I'm not jealous of _that_ sweater," Elsa said, shaking her head. "Anyway, I have to go to the lab again tonight. _Do not_ eat the thing that's in the blue Tupperware, it's not food. That's why it has a label on it that says 'not food'."

"Elsa, you put a label on the ice cream that says 'not food'."

Her sister kissed her head. "Ice cream isn't food. Eat something with protein first, okay?"

"Okay, okay. Go save the world."

Anna carried the mysterious reindeer sweater everywhere, all semester, with the vague idea eventually she'd run into its original owner. And since all the university buildings were kept at the same arctic temperature as the library, she ended up wearing it more often than not. She got into the habit of tucking her nose down against her own shoulder and inhaling deeply, because dog or no dog, something about the manly smell was soothing. When her own smell (of the cocoa butter body lotion and citrus body spray she used) started to rub off on the sweater she was devastated—she got a sandalwood candle and tried rolling the sweater around it, but it wasn't the same.

Anna threw the textbook as hard as she could—to hell with resale value, her head was _killing_ her, and the last test was over the _whole book_. She groaned and rubbed at her face with the sleeves of her lucky sweater. One more test, and then this whole rotten summer session would be over. "Get it together, Anna," she muttered. "Just get through this class, and then nothing will be in your way. It'll be fun classes all next semester."

With a sigh she shoved herself off of the couch and went to pick up the book. It had bounced off the wall and slid around the corner (Anna felt a little proud of herself, she really did have a good throwing arm). Her eyes on the ground, looking for the textbook, Anna didn't see him until she slammed into him.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm sorry, I—" She took a hasty step back, then something made her pause. She stepped forward and pressed her face into the warm flannel shirt, breathing deeply.

"Hey!" The deep voice come from above her head—really far above her head—and Anna backed up again so that she could see his face.

"It's _you_," she said.

"Yes?" he said, rubbing at the back of his head. Anna studied him, working out where she'd seen that big nose and those brown eyes (really gorgeous eyes, something from the back of her mind chimed in).

"English," she said finally. "With Professor Ridcully. You sat at the back and I don't think you said anything the whole semester. It's Christopher, isn't it?"

"Kristoff."

"Oh, oh right, sorry. Kristoff." She smiled at him. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"What?"

Anna bit her lip and lifted her hand, the sleeve of the sweater flopping over her fingers. "You—this is your sweater, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "Sure looks like it's your sweater, Red."

"Anna," she corrected him. "But it _was_ your sweater, it smelled like you. I mean, it stopped, because I wore it so much, but," she gestured vaguely at him. "It was you, wasn't it? Why?"

He shrugged again. "You looked cold."

"Oh." Anna looked down, fiddling with the hem of the sweater, would have touched her knees if she hadn't been twisting it in her fingers. "Why…why didn't you ever ask for it back?"

"Because…you looked warm."

Anna felt a dark blush rising in her face, but when she glanced up at him she saw pink staining his cheeks, too. She fumbled some more at the sweater. "Do you—do you want it back? I mean—"

"No, no, I—you should keep it." He grinned a little sheepishly. "It looks better on you, Red."

"_Anna_."

"Right. Anna."

They stared at each other for a minute, both of them fidgeting awkwardly.

"I guess I should—"

"Do you—"

They stopped again, staring at each other.

"Um," he said, scrubbing a palm awkward over his face. "Um, you should probably know that I wasn't…I wasn't stalking you, or anything, I just usually studied over here, and then you were here, and I didn't want to disturb you, and there's a few desks farther down so I've been studying there instead, and…ah…."

"Thank you," Anna said suddenly.

"Wait, what?"

"Thank you. I mean…" she tugged at the sweater. "Thank you, for this. I mean…it was nice. It—I was dating this guy, right? And right before the summer we broke up, because…because I realized that he wasn't very nice. He used to say things, and then one time he did something, and I—anyway, we broke up, but he still _acted_ so nice, you know? He acted so hurt about it, like I'd broken his heart, and no one…no one _believed_ me, and so all of our friends, well, they became_his_ friends. And I guess that means I'm better off without them, but then I had this class, and I've been too busy to meet new friends, and my sister has this really important internship at a lab and she's super busy, and I barely see her even though we live together. I just…I haven't really had a hug in a long time, and this…wearing this was like getting the biggest, warmest hug, and I'm sorry, I'm rambling, I sound stupid, I'm sorry—"

She cut off suddenly as strong arms folded around her, wrapping her tightly but gently. Anna melted into his sturdy chest, burying her face in his shirt, smelling the sandalwood, and yes, the smell of dog, and underneath both of those the smell of manly sweat. The smell was familiar, comforting, and she snuggled up into it.

After a moment they broke apart, both of their blushes even darker.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Sorry, I just…wanted to do that."

"Thank you."

"Do you…" He shifted awkwardly, folded his arms, let them drop. "Do you…want to go somewhere? Get coffee, or something?"

"I don't like coffee," Anna said, "but…I _really_ like pie. And hot chocolate."

He grinned at her. "I like pie too."

Anna shoved the sleeve of the sweater up to her elbow so that her hand was free. He curled his fingers around hers carefully, warm and comforting.

Six months later, Kristoff let Anna into his apartment, tugging her into his arms for a hug as soon as she was through the door.

"Mmm, I missed that," Anna said. She pressed her face against him. "I missed you."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "You were only gone for a week."

"I know, and Christmas with my sister was _great_, it was so great, but I still missed you."

"Yeah? Well let me change, and I'll take you out for pie."

"What's wrong with this?" Anna ran her fingers up and down his chest lightly.

"The fact that I got Sven drool all over it? Just give me five minutes."

He unbuttoned the shirt, pulling it off and tossing it on the couch, and completely ignoring the way that Anna's eyes followed his bare back as he went into the bedroom. When he came out, buttoning a fresh shirt, he stopped in the doorway. Anna had taken off her coat and her sweater, and wrapped herself in the discarded shirt.

"Anna," he said, grinning. "You can't keep stealing all of my clothes."

"Mm, but it smells like you." She sat on the couch and tucked her knees up into the shirt.

"You can't have that shirt. I _really_ like that shirt."

Anna scooted back into the corner of the couch and smiled up at him.

"Then come and take it back," she said.


End file.
